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Alarm wails for hours next to retirement home

Henry Godfrey-Evans
BBC News, Essex
Henry Godfrey-Evans/BBC A woman with a blue cardigan on, sitting at a table with her dinnerHenry Godfrey-Evans/BBC
Maureen Cannon, 92, said she hid in her bathroom to escape the noise

A council has apologised after a fire alarm rang for more than six hours next to a retirement home on Easter Sunday.

The alarm at Cottis Yard multi-storey car park in Epping, Essex, has sounded on several occasions over the past few months, according to one neighbour.

Another neighbour, Maureen Cannon, 92, who lives in the Bakers' Villas retirement complex, has a perforated eardrum and said she hid in her bathroom to get away from the noise.

An Epping Forest District Council spokesperson apologised for the disturbance, first reported by Everything Epping Forest, saying: "The alarm should not have been going off for as long as it did."

Henry Godfrey-Evans/BBC A view of some housing taken from the roof of the car park.Henry Godfrey-Evans/BBC
Bakers' Villas retirement home is next to the car park

Describing the noise, Ms Cannon said: "It was terribly loud... I suppose that's what it's meant to do... distract you."

Janet Hedges, 78, said: "It does go right through you, because it wakes you up and you think 'Ooh, what's happened":[]}